Monica, Stephen, et al-
I also remember the English (tenative?) translation of the Bermudo
"panezuelo"- seems like it would have to be some sort of
movable/removable nut, stopping the strings from below as opposed to our
modern capos; which presumably would not have worked too well without
being subjected to very fussy construction details, when you consider
the difficulty of such a device- it would have to stop the thickest gut
basses along with their octave strings with equal firmness.
And then, with multi course lutes & cambered fingerboards it would
become truly not worth the effort. And, inasmuch as pitch was so fluid,
unstandard, and musicians- esp. the more highly trained/educated- could
no doubt transpose more skillfully than most of us can these days, the
capo might not even have been a passing thought.
This panazuelo as a nut business seems more likely (if I'm not
completely off the wall here) in view of the general opinion that open
string sound was the more highly esteemed instrument sound, vs. fingered
notes- indeed, one of the vihuelists considered it "the best you can
get" from the instrument, almost seeming to regard frets and fingered
notes as a necessary evil. Certainly any capo device would be regarded
as something that would "choke" the very essence of lute/vihuela sound.
Polar opposite to Jazz electric guitarists, who seemed to me to avoid
open strings as much as possible.
Dan
On 9/25/2013 11:56 AM, Monica Hall wrote:
There is a passage in Bermudo which seems to refer to the use of some
sort of device to raise the strings of the vihuela a semitone or a
tone. It is in Book 2, Chapter 36 f.30. It is referred to as a
"panezuelo" which literally seems to mean a handkerchief but there is
some doubt as to whether this is really what it means. He says that
experienced players place this under the strings close to the nut
(pontezuela) and this rasies the pitch of the strings.
Maybe someone more of an expert on Bermudo can elucidate.
Monica
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